Họp Thông Thiên Học ngày 18 tháng
1 năm 2014

We have previously seen that, under certain conditions, the Etheric Double may
be separated from the dense body, though it is always connected with it by a
thread or cord of etheric matter. At death the double finally withdraws from
the dense body and may be seen as a violet mist, gradually condensing into a
figure which is the counterpart of the expiring person and attached to the
dense body by a glistening thread. This thread or magnetic cord is snapped at
the moment of death.

As the buddhic life-web, accompanied by Prâna, disentangles itself from dense
physical matter at death, it draws itself together in the heart round the
permanent atom. The atom, web and Prâna then rise along the secondary
Sushumna-nadî into the third ventricle of the brain, thence to the point of
junction of the parietal and occipital sutures, and finally out of the body.
The life-web remains enshrouding the physical permanent atom, in the causal
body, until the time comes for a new physical body to be built.

The withdrawal of the Etheric Double, and with it of course Prâna, destroys
the integral unity of the physical body, thus leaving it merely as a
collection of independent cells. The Life of the separate cells themselves
continues, as evidenced by the well known fact that hairs on a corpse will
sometimes continue to grow.

The moment the Etheric Double withdraws, and consequently Prâna ceases to
circulate, the lower lives, i.e., the cells, run rampant and begin to break
down the hitherto definitely organised body. The body is thus never more alive
than when it is dead: but it is alive in its units, and dead in its totality ;
alive as a congeries, dead as an organism. As Eliphas Levi says: “The corpse
would not decompose if it were dead; all the molecules which compose it are
living and struggle to separate.” (Isis Unveiled, I, 480).

When the double finally quits the dense body, it does not go far away but
usually floats over it. In this condition it is known as the wraith, and
sometimes appears to those with whom it is closely bound up as a cloudy
figure, very dully conscious and speechless. Unless disturbed by tumultuous
distress or violent emotion, the state of consciousness is dreamy and
peaceful.

It is during the withdrawal of the double, as well as afterwards, that the
whole of the man’s past life passes swiftly in review before the Ego, every
forgotten nook and corner of the memory yielding up its secrets, picture by
picture, event by event. In these few seconds the Ego lives over again his
whole life, seeing his successes and failures, loves and hatreds: he perceives
the predominant tendency of the whole, and the ruling thought of the life
asserts itself, marking the region in which the chief part of the post-mortem
life will be spent. As the Kaushitakopanishat describes it, at death Prâna
gathers everything together and, withdrawing from the body, hands everything
onwards to the Knower, who is the receptacle of all.

This stage is usually followed by a brief period of peaceful unconsciousness,
due to the withdrawal of the etheric matter and its entanglement with the
astral body, thus preventing the man from functioning either in the physical
or the astral world. Some men shake themselves free from the etheric envelope
in a few moments; others rest within it for hours, days, or even weeks, though
usually the process does not take longer than a few hours.

As the days pass, the higher principles gradually disengage themselves from
the double, and the latter then becomes in its turn an etheric corpse, which
remains near the dense one, both disintegrating together. These etheric
wraiths are often seen in churchyards, sometimes as violet or bluish-white
mists or lights, but often presenting an unpleasant appearance as they pass
through various stages of decomposition.

One of the great advantages of cremation is that by destroying the dense body,
the etheric body also loses its nidus and so rapidly disintegrates.

If a man is so misguided as to wish to cling to the physical life, and even to
his own corpse, the preservation of the dead body, either by burial or
embalming, offers a distinct temptation to him to do so, and immensely
facilitates his unfortunate purpose. Cremation entirely prevents any attempt
at partial and unnatural temporary reunion of the principles. In addition,
there are certain unpleasant forms of black magic, fortunately rare in Western
countries at least, which make use of the decaying physical body; the etheric
body of a dead person may also be similarly used in a variety of ways.All of
these possibilities are avoided by the wholesome practice of cremation. It is
quite impossible for a dead person to feel the effects of the fire on his
discarded body, for, so long as it is death, the astral and etheric matter
have been completely separated from the dense physical.

Although it is quite impossible for a dead person to get back entirely into
his dead body, yet, in the case of one who knows nothing beyond purely
physical life and is crazy with fear at being entirely cut off from it, it is
possible for him, in his frantic effort to keep in touch with physical life,
to get hold of the etheric matter of the discarded body and drag it about with
him. This may be the cause of considerable suffering, entirely unnecessary,
and easily avoided by the practice of cremation.

In the case of people who cling desperately to physical existence, the astral
body cannot altogether separate from the etheric, and they awaken still
surrounded by etheric matter. The condition is very unpleasant, as such a
person would be shut out from the astral world by the shell of etheric matter,
and at the same time the loss of physical sense organs prevents him from
coming fully in touch with earth life. Consequently he drifts about, lonely
and dumb and terrified, in a thick and gloomy fog, unable to hold intercourse
with either plane.

In process of time the etheric shell wears out, in spite of his struggles,
though usually not until after he has suffered intensely. Kindly people among
the dead, and others, endeavour to help the class of person described, but
seldom with success.

Sometimes a person in this condition may endeavour to get in touch once again
with the physical plane through a medium, though usually the medium’s “spirit
guides” sternly forbid them access, knowing that the medium runs the risk of
being obsessed or maddened. Occasionally an unconscious medium – usually a
sensitive young girl – may be seized upon, but the attempt can be successful
only if the girl’s Ego has weakened his hold on his vehicles by indulging in
undesirable thoughts and passions. Occasionally also a human soul wandering in
this grey world may succeed in partially obsessing an animal, those most
commonly seized upon being the less developed – cattle, sheep or swine, though
cats and dogs or monkeys may also be used in this way.This appears to be the
modern, i.e.., Fifth Race, substitute for the awful life of the vampire, found
in Fourth Race peoples. Once entangled with an animal, it is possible to
disentangle oneself only gradually and by considerable effort, extending
probably for many days. Freedom usually comes only at the death of the animal,
and even then there remains an astral entanglement to shake off.
[1/18/2014 6:39:10 PM] Thuan Thi Do: CHAPTER XVII

HEALING

We have already seen that a man in vigorous health is continually throwing off
from his body vital emanations which may be absorbed by others. In this way
the latter will be strengthened, and minor illnesses may be cured, or, at
least, recovery expedited.

As, however, the currents of Prâna are amenable to the will, it is possible
for a man consciously to direct the streams of vitality which pour out of him,
as well as greatly to augment their natural flow. By directing the currents on
to a patient who is depleted of strength, owing to the fact that his spleen is
not doing its work properly, considerable help towards recovery may be given,
the additional vitality poured in by the healer keeping the patient’s bodily
machinery working until it is sufficiently recovered to manufacture supplies
of Prâna itself.

The healing of the weak by the strong may thus be achieved, in certain cases,
merely by physical proximity, the process being either entirely unconscious
and automatic, or it may be assisted and expedited to almost any extent by
conscious effort. Much benefit may often be given merely by pouring into the
patient copious streams of vitality, which will flood the patient’s system
with vitalising energy; or the operator may direct the flow to the particular
portion of the body which is out of health. Merely to increase the circulation
of Prâna is sufficient to cure many minor diseases. All nervous diseases imply
a jangled condition of the Etheric Double, and that is also the cause of
digestive troubles and sleeplessness. Headaches are usually caused by
congestion, either of blood or of the vital fluid, sometimes called magnetism.
A strong current directed by the healer through the head of the sufferer will
wash away the congested matter and the headache will disappear.

These methods are comparatively simple and by no means difficult to apply,
though a skilful healer, especially if clairvoyant, can improve on them
enormously. One such improvement, which demands some knowledge of anatomy and
physiology, is to make a mental picture of the diseased organ, and then image
it as it should be in health. The strong thought will mould etheric matter
into the desired form, which will help nature to build us new tissues much
more rapidly than would otherwise be possible.

A still more thorough method is to create the organ in mental matter: then to
build into it astral matter: then to densify it with etheric matter: and
finally to build into the mould gases, liquids and solids, utilising materials
available in the body and supplying from outside an deficiencies.

A methodical and effective way to set to work to heal magnetically is as
follows: The patient assumes a comfortable position, either sitting or lying
down, and is instructed to relax as thoroughly as possible. A very convenient
method is for the patient to sit in an easy chair, with solid flat arms, the
operator sitting sideways on the arms and thus slightly above the patient. The
operator then makes passes with his hands over the patient’s body, or over
that portion of it which he proposes to treat magnetically, making an effort
of will to withdraw from the patient the congested or diseased etheric matter.
These passes may be made without actually touching the patient, though it is
often an assistance to lay the whole hand on the skin gently and lightly.After
each pass the operator must take care to throw off from himself the etheric
matter he has withdrawn, otherwise some of it may remain in his own system and
he may presently find himself suffering from a complaint similar to that of
which he has cured his patient. Many cases of this kind are on record; thus,
an operator may remove pain from a patient’s tooth, or elbow, only to find
himself presently suffering from toothache or pain in the elbow. In some
cases, where repeated treatments are given, an operator who neglects to throw
off the diseased matter which he has extracted may make himself seriously ill
and even become a chronic sufferer.

A.P.Sinnett gives a curious case of a lady who was cured of chronic rheumatism
and then went to live in a part of Europe other than that in which the
mesmeric operator resided. Four years afterwards the operator died, and the
old rheumatic trouble at once returned to the lady with its former virulence.
In this case, it would seem that the unhealthy magnetism which the operator
had withdrawn from the patient, but had not destroyed, had for years been
hanging around the aura of the operator, and on his death, had at once flown
back to where it originally belonged.

Usually it is sufficient to jerk the hands sharply downwards and away from
oneself, or the magnetism may be thrown into a basin of water, the water
afterwards of course being thrown away. The process may be assisted after this
preliminary portion of the treatment is completed by washing the hands in
water before commencing the next and more positive part of the treatment.

It is also said to be possible to direct the unhealthy magnetism to certain
classes of elementals, where it will find its appropriate sphere. The Bible
parable of the herd of swine may well be an allegorical description of the
process. It would certainly seem to be preferable for something of this kind
to be done than for the unhealthy magnetism to be left floating about near the
aura either of the healer or of others who may happen to be near.

A slight variation of the above method, especially useful in the case of local
congestion, is to place the hands, one on either side of the affected area,
and to direct a stream of cleansing magnetism from the right hand to the left
hand, this magnetism driving out the patient’s congested material.

The way having been prepared, the next stage is to pour into the patient one’s
own magnetic fluid and Prâna. This is done by making similar passes, though
this time with a strong effort of will to pour out one’s own force into the
patient. This, as before, may be done by means of long sweeping passes over
the whole body, or by shorter passes over a special area: or again, the two
hands may be used, the current being passed from the right hand to the left,
through the area that is being treated.

The student will readily recognise the desirability of the healer being
himself perfectly healthy, because otherwise he is liable to pour into the
patient some of his own unhealthy magnetism.

It should be noted that in magnetic healing clothing is somewhat of a barrier,
silk being in this respect the worst. The minimum possible, therefore,
according to circumstances, should be worn by the patient.

From the fact that certain forms of insanity are due to defects in the etheric
brain, its particles not corresponding perfectly with the denser physical
particles and thus being unable to bring through properly vibrations from the
higher vehicles, we may surmise that such cases might lend themselves to cure
by magnetic treatment.

There are, of course, other methods of affecting the etheric body, because the
connection between mental, astral and etheric bodies is so close that any one
of the three may affect any of the others.

Generally speaking, it may be said that anything which promotes physical
health also reacts favourably on the higher vehicles. Unused muscles, for
example, not only tend to deteriorate, but produce a congestion of magnetism:
this means a weak place in the Etheric Double, through which unpleasant germs,
such as those of infection, may enter.

The etheric plane (see also Etheric body) is a term introduced into Theosophy
by Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant to represent the subtle part of
the lower plane of existence. It represents the fourth [higher] subplane of
the physical plane (a hyperplane), the lower three being the states of solid,
liquid, and gaseous matter. The idea was later used by authors such as Alice
Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, Walter John Kilner and others.

The term aether (also written as "ether") was adopted from ancient Greek
philosophy and science into Victorian physics (see Luminiferous aether) and
utilised by Madame Blavatsky to correspond to akasha, the fifth element
(quintessence) of Hindu metaphysics.

The Greek word aither derives from an Indo-European root aith- ("burn,
shine"). Blavatsky also related the idea to the Hindu Prana principle,[1] the
vital, life-sustaining force of living beings, present in all natural
processes of the universe. Prana was first expounded in the Upanishads, where
it is part of the worldly, physical realm, sustaining the body and the mind.
Blavatsky also tended to use the word "astral" indiscrimininately for these
supposed subtle physical phenomena.

Leadbeater and Besant[2] (Adyar School of Theosophy) conceived that the
etheric plane constituted four higher subplanes of the physical plane.
According to the Theosophist Geoffrey A. Farthing,[3] Leadbeater used the
term, because of its resonance in the physical sciences, to describe his
clairvoyant investigations of sub-atomic physics.

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The majority of modern physicists, in spite of acknowledging the phenomena
known as vacuum energy and the existence of other unsolved problems in physics
that are unexplained by current standard theories,[4][5] continue to maintain
that there is no need to imagine that a medium for propagation of
electromagnetic waves exists[6][7] (see also aether theories). However, there
have been a number of physicists in western countries whose research,
currently considered fringe and controversial among the mainstream scientific
community, shows evidence of the existence of the dynamic aether possessing a
fluid crystal-like structure and permeating all space,[8][9] in an apparent
accordance with recent experiments[10] and as formerly outlined by
Theosophical and Rosicrucian esoteric schools; also their work attempts to
provide solutions to tap this energy source which regulates quantum activity
for the generation of pollution-free power[11] and other technological
applications.[12]

Similarly according to Max Heindel Rosicrucian writings;[13] there is - in
addition to the solids, liquids, and gases which compose the Chemical Region
of the Physical World - a finer grade of matter called ether that permeates
the atomic structure of the earth and its atmosphere. It is disposed in four
grades of density and is considered to be a kind of physical matter (the blue
haze seen in mountain canyons is said to be in fact ether of the kind known to
occult investigators as chemical ether). Associated there is also a type of
spiritual sight, that man will eventually develop, called etheric vision.[14]
Ether is reported to be of four kinds, or grades of density in our planet
Earth; their names (from the lowest or most dense to the highest or most
subtle one) and their relation to the human being, from the point of view of
these Esoteric Christian teachings, is as following:[15]

the "Chemical Ether": both positive and negative in manifestation and it is
related to the assimilation and excretion processes;
the "Life Ether": has also a positive and negative pole and it is related to
the forces of propagation;
the "Light Ether": the positive pole is related to forces which generate blood
heat in the higher species of animal and in the human being and the negative
is related to the forces which operate through the senses (passive functions
of sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling);
the "Reflective Ether": the medium through which thought makes an impression
upon the human brain and this ether contains pictures which work as reflexions
of the Memory of Nature found at the World of Thought.